Going to Print with Veronica Post
Saddle up, Langosh, Peppi, and Yeva fans, because your wait is almost over! Hot to Trot, the follow-up to Fugitive Days, is off to print in preparation for a November 2023 release.
In Hot to Trot, the trio continues its journey, this time travelling through the US’s big cities, small towns, prairies and mountains. But as their journey unwinds, differences in perspective emerge, threatening Langosh and Yeva’s friendship. Will they be able to stay true to themselves and keep their friendship alive?
Find out more in this Q&A with artist Veronica Post, as we discuss character choices, process, themes, and the sometimes-fine line between truth and fiction.
5 QUESTIONS WITH VERONICA POST
1. This new book focuses more on Yeva than the last one did. What interests you most about this character?
She was so much fun to write and draw in the first book, I knew I had to include her as one of the main characters in the sequel. Compared to Langosh, she offers a very different outlook on life. I decided to include her name in the title to reflect her importance to the story, and the series. I was excited to explore her first experience in America.
For Yeva, who grew up in the USSR in the 90’s, America represented everything that was cool and fresh! She thought that America represented qualities that she likes about herself; independence, creativity, and honesty. She begins to realize that perhaps America isn’t what she thought it was, and maybe she isn’t exactly who she thought she was, either. She also provides the perfect foil for Langosh, and her penetrating questions and straightforward takes on his choices give readers a fresh perspective.
2. Where do we get to travel this time? Which elements of these places were the most difficult to capture, either visually or in writing (or both)?
We get to travel across the USA, from the North East, to the midwest, all the way to California. I wanted to give readers a taste of my own experiences traveling there, culturally and geographically. There is so much more that I wish I could have shown, but I get to cover quite a bit, even in the relatively small area of it that I was able to cover in this book! I think the most challenging places to capture are urban environments. Streets and buildings do not differ that much from Philadelphia to Sacramento. Even though they may look similar on a streetscape, when you are there in person they are so different! They smell different, they taste different, they sound and FEEL different. Very challenging to capture with words or imagery.
3. Last time, you drew and wrote at the same time, and this time, you chose to start with a script. How did this new process work out for you? What do you think you might change next time?
I managed to get through the script writing rather quickly. At first I tried to include too much, and had to edit out lots of stories I wanted to tell, but it’s better to do that early on rather than later! The thumbnails were where I had to figure out how many panels, pages and chapters to dedicate to each event in the story. I know from experience that the layout of the pages and getting the expressions right on the characters takes a long time, so I poured much of my energy into that in the rough draft, because tracing those drawings and perfecting the shading will be much faster for me. Next time, I will be better at doing BASIC thumbnails before refining the drawings. Even though I could have done better, I managed to complete in 1.5 years what it took me 5 years to do last time, which I am very proud of!
4. Langosh and Peppi are an interesting balance of truth and fiction. Can you tell us about the line you’ve drawn between the two, and why you’ve decided to take this approach?
I decided to take this approach because I have lots of interesting stories to share! The process helps me clarify how I feel about the things that have happened, like a pictorial representation of me coming to terms with my own life. As I draw, I am able to explore different perspectives, and it helps me come to an understanding of how I really feel. The past few years have been difficult for everyone. There is so much wrong with the world and its systems. I worry that we have lost the ability to clear our minds and thoughts, to be open, to believe in the possibility of a better future. Working on these books gives me time to contemplate how complex life really is, and to have more compassion.
5. What themes do you dig into this time around?
As in my first book, one theme is police brutality, which in the past two years has thankfully come to the forefront of public consciousness thanks to the work of the Black Lives Matter movement. The media focus has rightly been on the police murders of unarmed people, which is sometimes misinterpreted as the acts of “a few bad apples”. In reality, police violence has broad impacts that reach far beyond the actions of the few. For example, widespread racial discrimination, the criminalization of poverty, drug use and homelessness. I hope that this book will help readers explore how our current view of justice, punishment and morality deepens and reinforces divisions in society.
Another theme is the power of choice. Structural systems can harm us, but we also have our own unique agency in how we decide to respond to those systems. In every situation we have some choice. The choices we make help us define our identity. As we grow and change, we sometimes need to ask if the choices we made actually serve us well in a different context. It is very difficult to question values that were formed as a defense to trauma, and as Yeva and Langosh realize that they don’t always see eye to eye, I explore if they can break free of the ideological barriers they have built for themselves, stay true to what feels right AND maintain the friendship that they have forged together.
All of this brings up the other big theme in the book, which is friendship. Within friendships we have a lot of choices to make… when to be flexible and when to take a stand. When to listen to your friend, and when to listen to yourself. When to give advice, and when to keep your mouth shut! As Langosh and Yeva travel together, they aren’t always tactful at making these choices. Seeking to keep their friendship alive while for the first time questioning their own values, I explore if Langosh and Yeva can find personal power in ways they never imagined before
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